Molding and cabinet construction

ABSTRACT

The cabinet construction of the present invention utilizes a key hole method of joining panel members and a plastic molding for the exposed edges. The plastic molding is designed to snap on or slide onto the key hole tongues of the cabinet panel edges. The molding is such a size and construction to permit section blanks of a panel to be removed and the perimeter of the blank to be covered with the molding which thereby permits it to be utilized as a door or a decorative panel without any loss of material. In the preferred embodiment, the molding consists of a rear flat surface designed to interface with the back of the panel and a front and top surface designed to provide a decorative finish and to overlap the interface of the panel key hole tongue and surface.

United States Patent 1191 Manlove et al. Sept. 24, 1974 [54] MOLDING AND CABINET CONSTRUCTION 3,426,482 2/1969 Mock 52/627 X 1 1 Glen Manlove, 1109 Sixth 33131? 1311332 521551; if?IIIII.1.........IIIIIIII iii/Z31 Ave., Arcadia; Paul Kenneth Ishler, 2 Rldgewood El Monte both Primary ExaminerPaul R. Gilliam 0 Ca Attorney, Agent, or FirmJackson & Jones Law Corp. 22 Filed: Dec. 11, 1972 21 App]. No.: 313,775 [57] *BSTRACT The cabmet construction of the present invention utilizes a key hole method of joining panel members and [52] U.S. Cl. 312/257, 312/140 a plastic l i for the exposed edges The plastic [51] Int. Cl. A47b 43/00, A47b 47/00 molding i designed to snap on or Slide onto the key [58] Fleld of Search 312/111 257; 387/2092 hole tongues of the cabinet panel edges. The molding 387/2092 T; 52/627 is such a size and construction to permit section blanks of a panel to be removed and the perimeter of [56] References and the blank to be covered with the molding which UNITED STATES PATENTS thereby permits it to be utilized as a door or a decora- 197,968 12/1877 Drake 27 10 tive Panel Without y 1058 Of material In the P 517,521 4/1894 Hensel 52/753 ferred embodiment, the molding consists of a rear flat 792,979 6/1905 Flughum 52/753 surface designed to interface with the back of the 2,082,431 1/1937 T ipp 403/267 panel and a front and top surface designed to provide a/H a decorative finish and to overlap the interface of the 1 man 3,239,891 3/1966 Gardner 52/62 R panel key hole tongue and Surface 3,379,483 4/1968 Oldford 312/257 R 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures MOLDING AND CABINET CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to cabinet assemblies and other furniture and more particularly, to an economic cabinet design with molding.

2. Description of the Prior Art The cabinet making art has gradually over the years relied to a greater extent upon cabinet construction that can be shipped in an unassemblied or do-ityourself manner. In addition, cabinets have been provided so that the component parts can interlock with each other with a minimal use of conventional fastening components such as nails, screws, glue, doweling, etc. Generally, these prefabricated cabinet assemblies eliminate the large volume requirements in conventional assembly transportation and storage and provide a rapid and easy assembly at their ultimate destination. Examples of such furniture are numerous and include bookcases, desks, chests of drawers, kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, etc.

Examples of various cabinet assemblies in the prior art include the Mitchell US. Pat. No. 3,021,187, Oldford US. Pat. No. 3,379,483, Campbell US. Pat. No. 305,286 and Campbell US Pat. No. 419.920.

Recently, wood panels have been formed from granular or small wood pieces that are pressed together with appropriate adhesives to form sheets of wood. This form of panel sheeting is highly advantageous in terms of cost and surface quality for cabinet making; however, the fiber nature of the board presents irregular surfaces when machined that are particularly prone to chip or present an undecorative appearance. Attempts have been made to fill the irregular edge surfaces by caulking and other methods but this is relatively expensive and frequently inadequate in providing an acceptable decorative surface.

Whenever doors or decorative panels are required in cabinets, it has been necessary to require extra sheets of wood panels to provide these members.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a cabinet assembly that can utilize a wood panel such as a pressed fiber board sheet of wood with a minimum of wastage. The panels of the cabinet assembly utilize a key hole tongue end for connection with appropriate grooves in a special molding strip configuration. A molding strip is provided that can be slid or snapped onto the perimeter of a panel member or a cut out blank of the panel to provide both a decorative and a utilitarian function. The molding presents a pleasing surface and protects the fiber board from further chipping while in addition permits the use of cut out blanks for features such as doors and the like without any wastage of material. The molding provides a decorative surface on the top and front and a fiat surface on the rear to provide a continual interfacing plane with a panel or cut out blank surface.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description,

taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cabinet assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the mold and panel edge in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of an alternative mold and panel edge in accordance with the present inventlon.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a cabinet assembly 2 is presented wherein the panels can be connected together by the coaction of key hole or dovetail tongues and complementary grooves. The panels can be pressed fiber panels. The rear panel or strong back 3 has dovetail tongue edges on both sides. Complementary grooves or rear side slots 30 are positioned on both side panels 4 and 5 for locking the rear panel 3.

Similarly, a front panel 6 and a bottom panel 8 has side key hole or dovetail tongue edges that coact with complementary bottom side slots 34 and front side slots 32. A lower panel side slot 36 extends upward from the bottoms of each of the side panels 4 and 5 and receives a front lower panel 11 with appropriate edge tongues. Likewise, an upper panel 7 having rear cleats 41 and 43 extends downward from the upper portion of the side panels 4 and 5.

During assembly, as can be seen in FIG. 1, the particular panels with the tongues are positioned in the appropriate slots. Adhesive or glue or other fasteners can be utilized to complement the interlocking cabinet assembly.

The front edges 15 and 17 of the respective side panels 4 and 5 can have similar key hole tongues as disclosed in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3. Molding 14 is designed to accommodate the bulbous head 20 of the panel key hole shaped tongue 16 and to provide an outside decorative contour surface 22. The molding 14 is preferably made of plastic and has the characteristic of being capable of sliding or snapping onto the panel tongue 16. The top and front surface of the molding 14 has the decorative contour surface 22 while the rear surface 26 is preferably flat and lies in the same plane as the surface of the panel member. The key hole shaped tongue 16 of the fiber board panel member is preferably offset,

for example, an eighth of an inch on a one half inch panel to provide'a support shoulder 18 for receiving the base of the rear leg member 19 of the molding 14. This insures both a stable fit and permits the resultant door or panel to fit flush against a cabinet panel.

The front leg member 21 of the molding 14 terminates in an overlapping lip 24 that extends below the cut or sloping surface 23 of the tongue base. This feature insures that any irregularities of the cut will not be seen when the molding 14 is in place. This is of particular importance when dealing with pressed fiber board since the cut surface is frequently irregular and prone to chipping and pits at the interface of the panel surface and the tongue portion.

Of particular advantage in the present invention is the ability to utilize the molding 14 to conserve material by permitting the panel members such as the front panel 6 and the upper panel 7 to have one or more doors l2 and decorative panels ltll added to these panels without resorting to additional sheets of material.

It has generally been necessary to have the door member or decorative panel cut from an additional sheet of material to permit an overlapping over the entire sheet as in the case of the decorative panel or over the opening in the panel in the case of the door 12. In the present invention, the door 12 can be cut directly from the front panel 6 and with the addition of molding strips 14 having 45 degree angular ends 13 it is possible to effectively enlarge the cut blank door to permit its use as a door on the same panel member from which it is cut. Likewise, a decorative panel 10 with appropriate molding 14 can also be produced from the same upper panel member 7 without resorting to an additional sheet of material.

As can be easily understood, this also permits an easy packaging of the cabinet assembly in a compact form by simply cutting the blank door 12 or decorative panel 10 and letting it remain within the panel sheet from which it is cut.

As can be readily understood by those familiar with cutting out component parts in cabinet assemblies, the cutting of a door or decorative panel from a sheet of material, especially fiber board, will produce both jagged edges and a gap of approximately one eighth of an inch or more about the perimeter of the resulting blank and panel. As a result, it has been necessary to cut one panel member to act as a frame for a door or for a decorative panel and then to resort to a second panel member to cut a slightly larger door blank to achieve the desired decorative effect required in modern cabinet assemblies.

The molding strips 14 of the present invention remove this wastage and permits the same panel sheet to provide either the decorative panel or the appropriate door with the simple addition of the molding 14 to the cut out blank. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the

molding 14 is positioned about the entire perimeter of the door blank 12 with the decorative contour surface 22 on the outside and the door blank 12 can be attached to appropriate hinges 28 to complete the assembly. Likewise, the decorative panel 10 will have the molding 14 positioned about its entire perimeter and the decorative panel 10 is then permanently attached over the cut blank opening in the upper panel member 7.

The particular offsetting of the key hole tongue 16 and its bulbous head 20 provides the step shoulder 18 that permits the molding 14 to be securely fastened. This offset connecting configuration with the rear surface of the molding in the same plane as the rear panel face is particularly adapted tothe fitting of the blanks such as the door 12 and the decorative panel 10 in a flush manner with the face or surface of the respective panels 6 and 7. The overlapping lip 24 of the molding 14- insures that the ornamental feature of the door 12 or the decorative paneling 10 will not be marred by an discontinuities along the interface between the sloping edge 23 of the base of the key hole tongue 16 and the surface of the panel member.

As seen in FIG. 3, the connecting configuration between the peripheral edge and the molding 14' can be modified from that shown in FIG. 2 to have a somewhat diamond cross sectional shape. Other configurations are possible within the scope of the invention.

As disclosed in FIG. 1, a cabinet is provided for use in a bathroom or kitchen adapted to receive a sink member 38 across its top. However, it should be realized that this is for illustrative purposes only and various forms of cabinet assembly can benefit from the present invention. Accordingly, craftsmen skilled in the art are capable of modifications within the purview of the present invention and the present invention should be measured solely from the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cabinet assembly for shipping in a knock down form and for assembly without conventional fastening components, comprising:

a plurality of panel members adapted to be interconnectecl together to form a cabinet; at least one panel member having a blank portion removed from the panel to leave a blank hole in the panel member, the panel member forming a framework in the cabinet assembly for removably coacting with the blank portion, the blank portion having a peripheral edge formed into a locking tongue configuration with an enlarged head portion, the locking tongue configuration having an offset position relative to the center line of the blank portion to provide an enlarged peripheral surface on one adjacent side of the head portion relative to the other side; a flexible elongated molding member having a snap lock groove complementary to the locking tongue configuration is mounted on the peripheral edge of the blank portion to fonn a member having a total surface area beyond the initial blank hole area of the cabinet framework, the molding member having a pair of relatively parallel and resilient leg portions to permit the snap lock movement, one leg portion of the molding member is longer than the other leg portion and extends beyond the interface of the connecting edge of the blank and its adjacent surface whereby the interface will be overlapped by the leg portion, the shorter leg portion of the molding member abuts against the enlarged peripheral surface adjacent the head portion and has a corresponding complementary surface configuration for contacting the peripheral surface of the blank portion, the shorter leg portion having an outside surface lying in a plane approximately parallel to a plane containing the surface of the blank portion and means for attaching the member to the cabinet framework for removably overlapping and closing the blank hole of the cabinet framework.

2. A cabinet assembly as in claim 1 further comprising a second blank portion removed from one of the panel members, the second blank portion having its entire peripheral edge formed into the same locking tongue connecting configuration of the first blank portion; a second molding member having a complemental connecting configuration is positioned on the peripheral edge of the second blank to extend the total surface area beyond the second blank hole area, and means for fastening the second blank portion and second molding member over the second blank area whereby a decorative panel is formed on the panel member.

3. A cabinet assembly as in claim 1 wherein at least one edge of another panel member has a connecting configuration with a shoulder portion and a second molding member including a pair of relatively parallel leg portions is mounted by a snap action on the panel edge, one leg portion being longer than the other and adapted to extend beyond the interface of the connecting edge of the blank and its surface while the other leg portion has a complementary shoulder configuration which abuts against the edge shoulder portion.

4. A cabinet assembly as in claim 1 wherein the entire peripheral edge of the blank has a dovetail tongue configuration and the molding member has a complementary groove of a dovetail tongue configuration and is 

1. In a cabinet assembly for shipping in a knock down form and for assembly without conventional fasTening components, comprising: a plurality of panel members adapted to be interconnected together to form a cabinet; at least one panel member having a blank portion removed from the panel to leave a blank hole in the panel member, the panel member forming a framework in the cabinet assembly for removably coacting with the blank portion, the blank portion having a peripheral edge formed into a locking tongue configuration with an enlarged head portion, the locking tongue configuration having an offset position relative to the center line of the blank portion to provide an enlarged peripheral surface on one adjacent side of the head portion relative to the other side; a flexible elongated molding member having a snap lock groove complementary to the locking tongue configuration is mounted on the peripheral edge of the blank portion to form a member having a total surface area beyond the initial blank hole area of the cabinet framework, the molding member having a pair of relatively parallel and resilient leg portions to permit the snap lock movement, one leg portion of the molding member is longer than the other leg portion and extends beyond the interface of the connecting edge of the blank and its adjacent surface whereby the interface will be overlapped by the leg portion, the shorter leg portion of the molding member abuts against the enlarged peripheral surface adjacent the head portion and has a corresponding complementary surface configuration for contacting the peripheral surface of the blank portion, the shorter leg portion having an outside surface lying in a plane approximately parallel to a plane containing the surface of the blank portion and means for attaching the member to the cabinet framework for removably overlapping and closing the blank hole of the cabinet framework.
 2. A cabinet assembly as in claim 1 further comprising a second blank portion removed from one of the panel members, the second blank portion having its entire peripheral edge formed into the same locking tongue connecting configuration of the first blank portion; a second molding member having a complemental connecting configuration is positioned on the peripheral edge of the second blank to extend the total surface area beyond the second blank hole area, and means for fastening the second blank portion and second molding member over the second blank area whereby a decorative panel is formed on the panel member.
 3. A cabinet assembly as in claim 1 wherein at least one edge of another panel member has a connecting configuration with a shoulder portion and a second molding member including a pair of relatively parallel leg portions is mounted by a snap action on the panel edge, one leg portion being longer than the other and adapted to extend beyond the interface of the connecting edge of the blank and its surface while the other leg portion has a complementary shoulder configuration which abuts against the edge shoulder portion.
 4. A cabinet assembly as in claim 1 wherein the entire peripheral edge of the blank has a dovetail tongue configuration and the molding member has a complementary groove of a dovetail tongue configuration and is positioned entirely around the peripheral edge of the blank.
 5. A cabinet assembly as in claim 1 wherein the entire peripheral edge of the blank has a cross sectional diamond-like shape and the molding member has a complementary groove of a cross sectional diamond-like shape. 